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Arizona House candidate John Glenn emails critic's employer, then apologizes

Upcoming elections in the Valley

Phoenix-area cities could see plenty of political change in 2018. Most local elections will be held in August, with run-off elections in November, if necessary.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Upcoming elections in the Valley

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is expected to resign to run for Congress, which will trigger a special election to fill the vacancy - and will likely lead to a domino effect of vacancies as council members resign to run for mayor.
Mark Henle/The Republic

Democrats in central Phoenix's Legislative District 24 are blasting Arizona House candidate John Glenn after he attempted to quell a political critic by emailing the man's private employer.

The brouhaha erupted Tuesday afternoon, when Glenn emailed stakeholders at the law firm Polsinelli LLP to complain that attorney John Barwell had criticized him online.

"As a prospective incoming legislator here in Arizona, I am writing to you today about a shareholder of your Phoenix office named John Barwell," Glenn wrote in the email, which included screenshots of Barwell's Facebook posts

"As a prospective incoming legislator, I am very curious if this level of professionalism is reflective of the entire Polsinelli office or is this an isolated instance?"

Glenn, an architect, has since apologized for the incident, but the episode outraged progressive activists in District 24, a deep-blue bastion that includes parts of downtown Phoenix and south Scottsdale.

Seven Democrats, including Glenn, are running for state House of Representatives in the Aug. 28 primary.

Barwell said the email, which he later posted on Facebook, was forwarded to him by a managing partner at he firm. He called it a clear attempt to silence criticism and get him fired.

"If he cannot handle the least bit of scrutiny of his public record, he has no place in public office," Barwell said of Glenn during an interview Wednesday. "I never expected that a friend of mine would attack me personally by trying to get me fired."

Glenn initially didn't apologize and released a statement saying he regretted "lashing out in-kind" after what he called unfair attacks on his professional credibility by Barwell.

"I strongly encourage him to reimburse every campaign contribution received from any person or entity who has had or will have any interest in the outcome of any Phoenix Planning Commission decision in the near future," Barwell states in one post. "Anything less is suspect."

Glenn's campaign has received more than $45,000 from people who work in the development and real-estate industries, according to an analysis by The Arizona Republic.

He contends political contributions have never swayed his votes on the commission, saying, "I'm very proud of my fierce impartiality during my tenure."

Glenn's email to Barwell's employer sparked a flurry of criticism from party activists and leaders this week. The Executive Board of the Legislative District 24 Democrats called his behavior "anti-democratic" and unacceptable.

"We condemn intimidation and coercion, as it makes us divided, and ill prepared to win in November," the board said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Glenn apologized to Barwell in an email Thursday afternoon.

"I deeply regret contacting your employer in an attempt to stop your posts about me on Facebook," he wrote. "I'm sorry for any harm this may have caused you and your employer.

"Please know that moving forward I plan to practice better self care and to use my support system to manage my stress so that this doesn't happen again."

Barwell shared Glenn's apology on Facebook, saying, "I accept John Glenn's apology... I hope we can mend our wounds and get back in the fight" for the November elections.

Barwell had previously been a candidate in the District 24 House race, but dropped out last year.

Glenn is running on a slate with incumbent Reps. Ken Clark and Lela Alston, both Democrats from Phoenix. The two men are vying for House seats (Arizona legislative districts elect two House members and one Senator). Alston is switching chambers to run for Senate.

Alston, the Legislature's longest-serving member, called the incident a "painful lesson" for Glenn, who she said acted rashly amid an exhausting campaign. She said she still intends to run with him as a slate.

"I think it was a very, very unfortunate rookie mistake," Alston told The Arizona Republic. "I would not have ever thought John would do something like that."

CLOSE

State Rep. Ken Clark and candidate John Glenn are running mates in D-24 -- the two canvassed down 12th and Roosevelt streets Tuesday evening in 115 degree weather.
Arizona Republic

The District 24 primary has sparked an unusually bitter intraparty feud among Phoenix Democrats — a contest often characterized as a fight between the establishment slate candidates and outsider progressives.

Five other Democratic candidates are running for the district's two House seats: Jennifer Longdon, an activist and writer; Marcus Ferrell, an activist and Navy veteran; Amish Shah, an emergency room doctor; Denise Link, a nurse practitioner; and Fred Dominguez.

The victors will face one Republican, retired Navy veteran David Alger, in the November general election.

Meanwhile, Alston faces one Republican opponent, Vicki Alger, in the district's Senate contest. Alger is a research fellow at a libertarian-leaning think tank. She and David Alger are married.